The Magic of Recluce by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

because we have talent we have to leave Recluce until we master that talent?” asked Sammel.
    â€œNot until you master it. That could take years. Until you decide within yourself your own course of action.”
    I almost bit my tongue. It was even worse than I thought. If I didn’t accept the Brotherhood’s stiff-necked order and rules, then I’d be thrown to the wolves, and, somehow, I didn’t exactly see myself as a chaos-master. Why couldn’t an ethical person use both order and chaos? Life consists of both.
    â€œWhat about…”
    The questions went on, but I didn’t pay much attention. Everyone was just asking the same things with different words. So I was an uncontrolled order-source? Or worse. And no one still was describing what that meant, except that it was dangerous to Recluce.
    My stomach growled, but no one heard as they argued with Cassius.
    Krystal and I sat there in a quiet island. She looked at the floor, and I looked at everything and saw nothing.

X
    T HE SUN HUNG like a golden platter over the black stone wall that separated the Brotherhood’s enclave from the seaport—that wall that seemed so low from the Brotherhood side, and so imposing from the market square below.
    Even though it was but a few days past midsummer, the grass remained crisp and green, the air clean, and the nights cool—the result of the Eastern Current, according to Sammel.
    I hadn’t thought much about it, not until Magistra Trehonna started in with her maps and lectures on geography, and how the placement of mountains and currents affected weather. Then she got into how geography determined where cities and towns were, and why places like Fenard, the capital of Gallos, sat on the edge of the hills leading to Westhorns because the higher elevation made the city more defensible and the two small rivers provided power for the mills. The only interesting bit was how the imposition of order and chaos at what she called critical nodes could change whole weather patterns.
    That partly explained why some of the Brotherhood ships patrolled certain segments of the northern waters. But her lectures were like everything else—a piece of knowledge here, another one there, and a whole lot of boring repetition in the middle.
    So I sat with my back against a small red oak and watched the puffy clouds in the eastern skies begin to darken from white into a pinkish-gray. Just because, I tried to see if I could discover the patterns behind the clouds, trying to look beyond their surfaces.
    Again, I could see the faint heat-shadow-like images I had seen around the strange Brotherhood ships, but the ones in the clouds were natural. How I could tell the difference, I didn’t know. But I did. After a while, my eyes began to ache. So I closed them and began to listen.
    There were other dangergeld groups around. We met in the quarters and sometimes talked over dinner. They weren’t much different, except they looked to be in better shape, and they all seemed distant. Friendly, understanding, but distant.
    Two of them were seated on a bench on the other side of the hedge. Their voices carried.
    â€œâ€¦Brysta, that’s what they say…”
    â€œAt least it’s not Hamor…”
    â€œTake Hamor over Candar…home of the chaos-masters…Emperor of Hamor likes some order…”
    Cassius had mentioned that Candar was the most chaotic of the major continents. Tamra said that was because it was closest to Recluce, and there had to be balance. Cassius frowned, but hadn’t corrected her. That meant she’d been right.
    So what else was new. From Frven in Candar, the chaos-wizards had ruled most of the world—until they’d created a new sun in the sky and melted most of the capital’s buildings and people like wax. Although that had been generations ago, the people probably hadn’t changed that much.
    â€œCould I join you?”
    I almost jumped,